BRS MLAs want Gruha Laxmi, Dalit Bandhu to be deferred

Hyderabad: Exactly a month after the Cabinet announced a new scheme — Gruha Lakshmi, a one-time grant of Rs 3 lakh to each beneficiary — and approved the distribution of Rs 10 lakh grant to each beneficiary under the second phase of Dalit Bandhu, ruling BRS legislators appear to be skeptical of implementing both schemes.

The Cabinet had approved the Gruha Lakshmi scheme to 300 beneficiaries and Dalit Bandhu to 1,100 in all Assembly constituencies.  BRS MLAs have expressed concerns in their internal discussions that the selection of a relatively small number beneficiaries, due to the cap, might anger those who do not make it to the list. The MLAs worry that this quota won't even cover 20 beneficiaries in each village and town in their constituencies, which might fuel outrage against the ruling party.

Typically, leaders of the ruling parties compete for extending welfare schemes during an election year in order to entice voters, but the situation appears to be rather different in the BRS. The reason for this, according to party insiders, is that BRS MLAs have already come under fire from people in a majority of constituencies in selection of beneficiaries for 2BHK housing scheme as well as Dalit Bandhu.

The BRS government sanctioned 2.92 lakh 2BHKs for the underprivileged in 2014, but has only finalised tenders for the construction of 2.28 lakh 2BHKS so far. More than 1.60 lakh 2BHKs are available for distribution, however the process has been put on hold indefinitely due to protests against MLAs choosing their supporters and followers.

The state government received nearly 10 lakh applications from the poor for 2.92 lakh 2BHK houses; however, there were thousands of applicants in every constituency, and the number of 2BHKs available were only in hundreds.

In August 2021, the state government launched Dalit Bandhu to provide Rs 10 lakh to each Dalit family to set up units of their choice for self-employment.  The MLAs were initially tasked to select 100 beneficiaries in their respective constituencies in 2021-22, which sparked protests in several constituencies, with Dalits accusing MLAs of extending the benefit only to their supporters.

Even in seats held by the Congress MLAs and BJP MLAs, BRS leaders allegedly influenced beneficiary selection by exerting pressure on officials.

The Telangana government gave the MLAs the authority to choose 1,500 beneficiaries across their constituencies in three phases in 2022-23, at 500 in each phase, despite accusations of misuse of power and anomalies in programme implementation. The first phase's selection was completed in December 2023, but the government hasn't yet released the funds. Even though the 2022-23 financial year concluded on March 31, 2023, the process of the selection of the remaining 1,000 beneficiaries for that year did not fructify.

Under these circumstances, if the government implements the Gruha Lakshmi and Dalit Bandhu schemes, when the Assembly polls are just six months away, the BRS MLAs fear that it would create unnecessary trouble for them. The MLAs want the government to accept applications from all the beneficiaries without any quota or cap for both these schemes in this election year and promise to extend the benefit for all after the BRS retains power for a third term in December 2023.